Momotaro Saburo, The Peach Ninja
by Tamago no Kokuo
Summary: Momotaro Saburo is from a long line of respected KonomiNin. What kind of adventure will his heritage bring him? - This is a Naruto-type spin on Momotaro the peach boy, hence Saburo's last name. A longer story for those who like a good plot. Please, enj


Hello, everyone! This is my first official fanfic. I'm so excited! Please, enjoy!

-

Momotaro Saburo woke up from a long nap. It wasn't like him to sleep for longer than necessary, but his first day of study under his grandfather was intense, and he was exhausted. Saburo came from a long line of powerful ninja from the Land of the Tree-Fruit, and great things were expected of him. His father had told him of the legacy of the Momotaro through bedtime stories of great warriors of the past and their feats that had helped mankind, and the wonders they had accomplished were incredible. As a child he could hardly wait to start learning all of the family secrets and techniques his dad had told him about, but after today, his bruises persuaded him to think differently. As he rose out of bed, he cringed at the sharp pain of the sores that covered much of his upper body. His grandfather amazed him with all of the complex ninjutsu and genjutsu he had shown Saburo the other day, but the physical maneuvers didn't appeal to him at all. He had tried to mimic some of the "simplest" taijutsu maneuvers that his grandpa had demonstrated, but he just couldn't get the knack of it. Waking up from a half-sleep, he heard his name being called from the kitchen, so he got dressed and slipped down the stairs.

"Kitsune is here to see you, dear." Saburo's mother said as Saburo began to pour milk on his cereal. Kitsune was pacing back and forth in front of the Momotaro household. Saburo tried to remember why Kitsune would be at his house so early, but he didn't look like he was in a hurry, so Saburo decided to finish his breakfast before he would go out to greet him.

Kitsune and other neighborhood children called Saburo's house the Momozono, or Peach Orchard because Saburo had so many siblings. Ichiro, the eldest son, served as an ambassador in Konoha no Kuni from the Momotaro's homeland of Konomi no Kuni. Jiro, the second-born son, died in a fight against terrorist ninja on a journey through Kiri no Kuni to tell the government of a coup that was planning to take over the Kirigakure government. Just thinking about his older siblings and the important accomplishments they had completed reminded Saburo that being a Momotaro meant great things would be expected of him one day. After Jiro, there was Saburo, who had yet to go out into the world and make a name for himself. His childhood was normal, nonetheless. Finally, the youngest, Shiro, was pretty much an underachiever. He bugged the heck out of Saburo, but then again, living up to the Momotaro legacy was hard enough for even him. His older brothers both sounded like superheroes, for heaven's sake! He wondered what Shiro's motivation and or training might be like.

Saburo had finally finished his cereal when Kitsune gave him a "let's go now" look through the door. After he put his dishes on the sink, he ran out of the house to end Kitsune's wait.

"Where were you, man? You have to get to your graduation!" Kitsune questioned as Saburo ran out of the door. Saburo stared at Kitsune. His eyes widened and he began to run. Not stopping Saburo answered.

"You were supposed to tell me when to leave! All you did was prance around my front yard for half-an-hour!"

"Oh yeah! Sorry." Kitsune shrugged.

"Sorry! SORRY!" Saburo yelled, still running. "It's the graduation ceremony! I CAN'T MISS IT!" Kitsune raised his eyes to look at the hitai-ate he wore. Kitsune was two years older than Saburo, and had been training as a ninja for longer. His Konomigakure fruit headband symbolized his successful graduation from the same shinobi institute that Saburo was, or had, attended. Now Saburo had graduated and would soon receive his own hitai-ate as a part of the graduation ceremony.

He brought his hands to the ground to push himself up. The entire front side of his shirt was covered in mud.

"Well," started Kitsune, stopping to look at Saburo, "at least the brown in the dirt brings out the color in your eyes."

"Shut up! If I'm late everyone will want to kill me!" Saburo began to run again.

"It can't be that bad…" sighed Kitsune.

"If you had family and teachers who expect you to become the next Momotaro Ichiro, then they would want to kill you if you if you missed your first graduation!"

"Fine then, you're probably right." Kitsune joked.

"NOT FUNNY!" bellowed an already panting Saburo.

After a while, the KonomiNin academy was visible just over the horizon. Saburo could hear his teacher, Fukuro-sensei, begin to make a speech. His father was there, but his mother had stayed at home. The graduation ceremonies had become somewhat patriarchal for the Momotaro family, so it was the tradition that Saburo's mother wouldn't show up. As he got closer, he could see the hitai-ate headbands were all lined up neatly on a table. The rest of the students stood on the staircase in front of the school, waiting to receive their headbands. All of their clothes were neatly washed and ironed, making Saburo feel really guilty about his mud-stained clothes.

"…and with that, I would like to present these fine pupils with official Konomigakure fruit-of-the-tree hitai-ate!" The crowd of proud shinobi parents clapped their hands excitedly. Saburo slipped into the end of the line right as the first student was presented with the hitai-ate. His eyes shone so brightly, the ambition in them was obvious and he seemed overcome with pride. He bowed to the teacher and then left the platform, starting a graduate line. After several other classmates, it was finally Saburo's turn. He stood proud at the podium over which his teacher was complimenting the students. He tried as hard as he could to look as proud as the first student, but he just couldn't summon up such a smile. It was expected of him to become a ninja, a proud member of the shinobi whom hide amongst the tree's fruits, so there was no sense of accomplishment when he gave a bow to the teacher and held out his hands respectively to receive the hitai-ate.

All of a sudden, Fukuro-sensei frowned. Saburo was worried. The teacher looked up, disappointment in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Saburo, but there are no more hitai-ate left."

"How did that happen!" said Saburo, shocked.

"We must have not ordered enough…"

"But without a peach headband, I'm not really a…" Saburo looked down. His eyes swelled with tears.

"I am sorry, Saburo-kun. I understand how much this day meant to you." Fukuro looked at the mud on his shirt, "You must have been in quite a hurry to get here on time. You let Yakimi Kitsune keep the time for you, didn't you." Kitsune heard his name and sheepishly sunk behind one of the chairs in front of his to avoid the "of-course-he-screwed-up" look he was given by the sensei. Saburo couldn't speak.

_Father must be so upset! _He thought.

Saburo watched as his other classmates celebrated with their parents. His shoulders slumped. He couldn't be an official Konomigakure shinobi if he didn't have the fruit headband. His thoughts turned to his brothers and their amazing tasks. All of a sudden, there came a scream.

From the far side of the schoolyard, shady figures seemed to be terrorizing one of the graduates. Once the teacher looked to find the source of the shriek, the shadows sunk behind a building, but not fast enough that Fukuro didn't see them. He shrunk into a ninja's fighting posture, and then took off behind the building. Soon, most of the audience and students had followed suit, including Saburo. After he rounded the side of the building, he saw the bloody form of his teacher slumped against the side of the school. Several of the newer students turned around, afraid of how lethal this anonymous threat might be. Still, most graduates and parent-shinobi kept hot on the murderers trail. Saburo was uncertain as to whether or not he should go on. These monsters had _already _killed someone, and that someone was his teacher! Unless the student could surpass the master, then there was no hope of Saburo, or any of the other graduates, standing a chance against this sudden enemy. No, Saburo would go on. He had too. Fukuro had been a great friend to him, and he wasn't going to let those beasts get away with such an evil crime. Besides, he had the rest of the audience, most all of them shinobi themselves, behind his back. Saburo continued his search.

Again, Saburo reached another corner of the large academy, but the sight it hid was much more terrible than before. Once he rounded this corner he stopped abruptly. Sprawled out before him, were most of the many audience members and graduates. Kitsune was bleeding profusely from his forearm. He looked among the rest of the unconscious men and women. Buried among a young couple was his unconscious father. Emotion swelled within Saburo. Fukuro, Kitsune, and his father were all possibly dead! He wanted to cry, but then a thought hit him that made him more worried than sad.

Soon, his fears were confirmed. From the around the corner of the school, a scream pierced the air. Those monstrosities were in the schoolyard. All of those little kids' life could be in danger. Saburo scrambled to get to the schoolyard.

Teachers were herding their classes into the building, franticly, to get them away from the horror of the bloodshed being dealt by the shadowy figures. Saburo searched the now bloody schoolyard for the enemy. They were clearly visible now, and were being fought by the losing principal. The "men" struck the principal down in one sweep of their hands and began to head for the school. This was Saburo's only chance before they would begin to murder innocent children. It had been one of Fukuro-sensei's most frequently taught lessons to always protect the young. Saburo breathed deeply, and lunged for the monsters.

Their heads turned and Saburo, not exactly surprised, but in anticipation, and Saburo could finally make out every detail of their face. They wore broken Kiri-HunterNin masks, which revealed wrinkled, purple and blue skin under right around the lower part of their "faces". Fangs stretched long under their chins, and the KiriNin sign on their heads were slashed out, both with little "X"s. The rest of their body's were clothed, and looked mostly human. Saburo was sure now that there were only two of them. He gained a shinobi's posture and stared ominously at the monsters. They lunged at him, and blood magically appeared on their fangs, they surrounded Saburo, and began to close in on him. Saburo immediately registered the mental picture of his teacher, and could remember fang-marks on either of his sides. _He must have tried some kind of barrier technique, and it couldn't have worked, but if he used the most powerful barrier spell he knew, then what am I supposed to do…_ Then he thought back to his training with his grandfather. _That's it! Grandfather taught me a special family barrier ninjutsu. Well, here goes! _Almost instantly, Saburo's hands formed the correct seals, most likely powered by the fear he felt. This technique was going to take up an immense amount of chakra, but it was the only choice he had.

"_Momokawa no Justu! _Art of the Peach Skin!" Saburo screamed. The shape of a peach formed around Saburo. When the monsters went to bite Saburo, their mouths stopped right over the translucent peach housing a strained Saburo, almost as if their fangs had sunken into the fruit. The monsters began to groan. Their bodies went limp and they sunk to the ground, their faces still suspended against the peach, their teeth acting like hooks. Saburo slowly let down the barrier. He could just see the dense clouds forming overhead and the sight of his grandfather running towards the school before his legs buckled and he fell to the ground.

-

The ceiling of his room was the first thing Saburo saw when he woke up. He sat up slowly, his head, his whole body, really, throbbed intensely. He looked around the room and saw his mother looking out of the window. When she heard the sound of Saburo's bed sheets rustling, she turned around instantly. A smile crept across her face and she ran across the room to embrace him.

"Go-Good morning, Mom…" Saburo stuttered confusedly.

"Good morning, son!" squealed Saburo's mother. Saburo blushed, his mom really seemed happy to see him awake. He looked outside. It wasn't raining anymore.

"Mom, how long was I asleep?"

"… Four days, son." Saburo was astonished. He never thought that it would be that tiring when he deployed _Momokawa no Jutsu._ His mom rose slowly off of the bed, her expression more serious now. "Grandfather has been waiting to talk with you." Almost magically, Saburo's grandfather appeared at the doorway. As Saburo's mother left, his grandfather grunted,

"Come with me." Saburo forced himself out of bed.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Yes…" His grandfather led him down the stairs, out of the house, past the dojo where Saburo had first trained with him, and onto the family cemetery. It was a Momotaro tradition to leave the hitai-ate of the deceased tied around their headstone, and Saburo was amazed at the number of old, rusted headbands that were tied around the graves. Finally, they reached the back of the graveyard, where the more recently buried members of the family laid. Saburo's grandfather stopped at Jiro, Saburo's older brother's, headstone.

"You used _Momokawa_ to defeat those ninja?" asked the grandfather.

"Yes…" peeped Saburo.

"You know, the only other member of the family to master that move so quickly was myself." said Saburo's grandfather, "You are defiantly a Momotaro." Grandfather began to grin. He walked over to Jiro's grave and untied the hitai-ate from the tombstone. "Your brother loved life so much. All Momotaro were horrified to hear of his death. You were only a toddler, and could hardly talk or understand what we said when he died, but you cried so hard the day we buried him here. Harder than any of us did, and harder than you ever had before or would ever cry at all. You had no idea what it meant to die, yet you mourned so for your brother." He walked slowly behind Saburo, hitai-ate, glimmering, in hand, and then tied it around Saburo's forehead. "You have an unexplainable bond, even though he is dead. If he were alive, he would have been glad to give you this. He would want you to have it."

Tears once again welled up in Saburo's eyes. His grandfather wasn't the sort of man to pour out his emotions like this. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He fingered his brother's fruit headband. It felt just right.

-

When Saburo and his grandfather returned to the house, they were surprised to find Ichiro standing in the living room. Saburo was about to embrace him when he realized the grim look on everyone's faces…

-

Well, how'd you like it? I really hope that wasn't too boring. (I aught to give out "I survived reading this fanfic" shirts to everyone who is still awake to order them.) You're probably thinking that this should be in the angst genre, but later on there'll be less emotional stuff. I really wanted to make this humorous, but I could never find the right jokes to fit the text! I'm really upset in that regard. Anyways, there is nothing that I can do about it now.

By the by, if you didn't like that I made up my own country in the Naruto universe, I doubt you're going to want to read the next chapter (if there is one). I plan to introduce a whole new character from another custom-country. MAN, I _LOVE_ GEOGRAPHY! You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out who and where he/she comes from. Please review!

Thanks!

Tamago no Kou


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